Let’s be honest: we’ve all got a special place in our hearts for the Friends cast.

There’s something about the iconic sitcom and it’s loveable characters – who graced our screens for ten seasons – that makes everything feel okay. It’s the cure for everything from boredom to heartbreak; no matter what happens, Friends will always be there.

But behind the scenes, it seems everything wasn’t so picture perfect.

In an interview on Marc Maron’s podcast WTF With Marc Maron, Lisa Kudrow, famous for playing fan-favourite Phoebe Buffay, opened up about how seeing herself on screen next to co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox made her feel like a “mountain of a woman”. 

“You see yourself on TV and it’s that, ‘Oh, my God, I’m just a mountain of a girl’,” Kudrow told the host. “I’m already bigger than Courteney and Jennifer — bigger, like my bones feel bigger. I just felt like this mountain of a woman next to them.”

The Friends star says that the pressure drove her to become far “too thin”. Despite being “always sick” as a result of her weight loss, though, Kudrow was repeatedly told she looked good by others around her.

“Unfortunately for a woman, if you’re underweight, you look good,” she explained. “And that’s all I ever got.”

“I have a whole battle all the time,” she added, explaining her ongoing struggle with her body image. “I end up with, ‘So what? So, alright. You’re older. That’s a good thing. Why is that a bad thing?’”

This isn’t the first time one of the Friends stars has spoken out about the pressures of being a woman in the spotlight.

In an appearance on Running Wild with Bear Grylls in 2016, Kudrow’s co-star Courteney Cox spoke honestly about what it’s like to grow older when everyone is watching.

“Being a woman in this industry is difficult, and getting older is not the easiest thing,” the actress told Grylls. “But I have learned lessons.”

“I have done things that I regret and luckily there are things that dissolve and go away,” Cox continued, speaking about her experiences with cosmetic procedures. “So that’s good because it’s not always been my best look.”

“Now I have a new motto; let it be.”

Lucky for the Friends gals, they’ll always have each other’s backs. 

Just recently, Kudrow and Cox took to Instagram to share a Saturday girls night.

“Saturday night with a friend,” Cox wrote beneath a candid shot of the pair.

No matter what, the girls are the only ones who will really understand how it felt to be at the centre of the Friends whirlwind – and it’s amazing that they can be there for each other. 

You do you girls. You do you. 

Images: Getty